Past meets present as Alstom steps in to help out the Santa Special

It was, on the face of it, a simple question: Could Alstom tyre turn a steam locomotive?

The loco in question was 47324, a class 3F Jinty 0-6-0 tank locomotive from the East Lancashire Railway (ELR) which was needed to run as the railways very own Santa Special over the festive season.

Harry Rowlinson, Fleet Planning Manager for Alstom, was the man who took the call from Lee Kenny, T&RS manager at the ELR.

We looked at the new Heigensheidt wheel lathe at our Longsight centre in Manchester first, said Harry.

But it became clear that the new lathe didnt have the facility to turn axles between centres which was imperative for crank pin fitted axles. All modern rolling stock axles are secured by the lathe on the axle box casting on the outside of the wheel set but heritage loco stock have axle boxes in board so our state-of-the-art lathe was no good in this case.

Riding to the rescue though was Alstoms Wembley Traincare Centre, which had an older lathe that could cope with the intricacies of axle box castings and so the tyre turning. The Jinty was sent down by road and the team were able to take a look at the very unusual job that they had taken on.

Mark Coleman, Traincare Centre Manager at Wembley, said: We put Keith Evison, one of our most experienced wheel lathe operators, on it. I dont think he slept for the first evening and he even came in on a day off to finish the job.

Maybe it was because I hinted that my kids didnt want to miss the Santa Special!

The loco was despatched North after three days at Wembley and arrived in time to run as the ELRs Santa Special.